NEW DELHI, June 18. /ITAR-TASS/. Militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) have kidnapped 40 Indian workers in the suburbs of the Iraqi city of Mosul, The Times of India newspaper reported on Wednesday.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for taking all necessary steps to free the hostages. However, the location of the kidnapped workers has not been determined yet, and there is no communication with at the moment. Former Indian Ambassador Suresh Reddy left for Iraq to assist in freeing the hostages.

ISIS militants kidnap workers from construction site

Earlier, terrorists kidnapped 60 workers from the construction site in the Iraqi province of Salah-e-din, Turkish media reported. Among the kidnapped workers were citizens of Turkey, Nepal, Bangladesh and Turkmenistan. The ISIS militants reportedly freed some of the hostages who turned out to be Sunnis. Tirkey’s Foreign Ministry has not yet released any official comments on the situation.

ISIS militants still hold captive 49 staff of Turkey’s Consulate General in Mosul and 31 Turkish drivers. On Tuesday, Ankara ordered to evacuate the staff of the country’s Consulate General in Basra. Three employees and 15 security officers from the consulate have arrived in Kuwait. Turkey’s Consulate General in Erbil and Turkish Embassy in Baghdad remain open.

Developments in Iraq

The situation in Iraq has deteriorated over the last two weeks after Sunni militants from al-Qaeda-linked ISIS group, with the help of local radical militias, attacked several cities in the north of Iraq. The militants seized the Nineveh province and its administrative center Mosul. Hundreds of thousands of people fled Mosul. There are no confirmed reports on the number of casualties yet.